Luke Irwin was laying electric cables in his garden while carrying out some work on his farmhouse so that his children could play table tennis in it.

Mr Irwin, who is a Dublin born designer accidentally uncovered an untouched mosaic, before it was discovered that a villa, described by experts as "extraordinarily well-preserved" was found underneath.

The villa was discovered during an eight day dig at Mr Irwin's home in Warminster, England.

Historic England have described the find as "unparalleled in recent years."

Some of the artifacts uncovered include hundreds of oysters, high standard pottery, coins, brooches and the bones of animals including a suckling pig and other wild animals which are expected to have been hunted.

A Roman Villa which was discovered by home owner Luke Irwin while he was laying electric cables (Photo: PA)

A Roman mosaic found at the site was very well preserved (Photo: PA)

Experts also identified a Roman child's coffin which had been holding geraniums by Mr Irwin's kitchen.

The discovery is thought to be the largest of its size in the UK.

Historic England archaeologist Dr David Roberts who has said the villa is a significant find (Photo: PA)

The villa - which is being compared to the Roman home at Chedworth, Gloucestershire, in size and wealth - was built sometime between 175 AD and 220 AD and was repeatedly remodelled up to the mid 4th century AD.

Of his discovery, Mr Irwin said: "I was overwhelmed by the realisation that someone's lived on this site for 2,000 years.

Mr Irwin couldn't believe that someone has lived on the site for 2000 years (Photo: PA)

Archaeologists found oysters indicating the wealth of the Roman family (Photo: PA)

"You look out at an empty field from your front door, and yet 1,500 years ago there was the biggest house, possibly, in all of Britain."

Dr David Roberts, Historic England archaeologist, said the find was very significant for a number of reasons.

Rare Roman coins were also discovered (Photo: PA)

He said: "This site has not been touched since its collapse 1,400 years ago and, as such, is of enormous importance. Without question, this is a hugely valuable site in terms of research, with incredible potential.

"The discovery of such an elaborate and extraordinarily well-preserved villa, undamaged by agriculture for over 1,500 years, is unparalleled in recent years,."

Asked how highly the site rated in terms of the digs he had seen in his career, Dr Roberts said: "Because I'm a Roman archaeologist, it rates very highly indeed.

"It's one of the best sites I have ever had the chance to work on."

There were still questions to be answered after the "small" excavation to see how well preserved the site was and its dates, including exactly how big the villa is, how the site relates to the Roman road and how it should be preserved, he said.